A Different Take
by Miss Miejoe
Summary: What if Sakura managed to evade Tobi and a very angry 'Aloe Vera' by making a kage bunshin and found Itachi's body before them? ItaSaku.
1. Chapter 1

**A Different Take**

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters – they belong to Masashi Kishimoto. The only thing I own is my creativity.

This story isn't going to be a completely different AU and will contain some manga spoilers, yet, it will be vastly different. If you don't know who Tobi and Danzo are, then I suggest that you read the manga first or I'll ruin the surprise.

This is my first fanfic ever. Feel free to correct me if I make any mistakes, both spelling and Naruto-universe wise. I've written stories before, but in a different setting and with my own characters. I'm just trying to expand my horizons. Reviews are welcome. I have cookies! ^^

Dedicated to: Ker, the crazy emo werepuppy who challenged me into writing a fanfic.

Now that this is outta the way… Let me get started.

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The medic had appeared on the battlefield because she noticed two familiar chakra signatures fighting each other in the distance. She gasped from exhaustion. Jumping over those black flames in her mad dash to get there hadn't been easy; without her great chakra control, she would have failed and would have been burned, just like the rest of the forest. Sakura was late, despite having rushed to the scene as fast as she could, replacing herself with a kage bunshin clone to fool 'Aloe Vera', the orange masked Akatsuki member and even her own teammates; they were busy enough fighting each other and hadn't noticed it when a new Sakura stepped out from behind a tree to replace the old, real one, in the blink of an eye. At moments like these, she was glad that Naruto was a show off and that the kage bunshin was one of his favourite, frequently used moves. Sakura had no trouble with memorizing the hand seals. The two of them had worked together for years, so they both knew their partners' techniques well.

She was completely sure about the identity of one of them – he was the reason why she was out in the forest in the first place – but she had only met the latter a few times, so she couldn't be entirely sure about his identity.

First, she had met the latter when she visited Sasuke Uchiha during their ninja academy years in the Uchiha mansion during his birthday party. He appeared as a reserved, nice, role model older brother which everyone would have liked to have instead of their own annoying siblings. He didn't only have a pleasant personality, but he was a ninja prodigy too. Of course, Sakura was too little to understand Itachi Uchiha's importance back then.

Later on, she met 'him' again when her team went to rescue Gaara from the Akatsuki. Although, once Naruto's rasengan finished 'him' off, he turned out to be some kind of strange clone. Probably the result of a forbidden jutsu.

But instead of the chakra signature's owner she searched for – her former teammate, Sasuke - she found someone else. Sakura Haruno already knew it that she would be too late once she felt that the other, more familiar chakra signature disappeared. All chakras that remained on the battlefield were mere fragments of the jutsus which were used during the fight, although, she could have mistaken them for people if she hadn't undergone her advanced training. Sakura couldn't help it but shrug at the thought of how powerful those techniques must have been if the remains were so big and numerous.

She would have ignored the dead man – the quantity of chakra inside his body was lesser than in any of the places where jutsus had been used - if she hadn't noticed something strange. While she was sure that Sasuke would have finished his hated elder brother off properly, she felt that something was off.

Her emerald eyes scanned over the corpse in front of her routinely. She had examined her fallen comrades several times before; to make sure that they really died from the cause which they were rumoured to die from; to make sure that nobody was pulling the strings from behind the scenes. Shinobi always had to be aware of the existence of hidden secrets, even if nothing indicated their presences. You never knew whether someone else was plotting your demise behind your back. Living in a constant paranoia was part of the way of the ninja, unfortunately.

A badly but irregularly burned bare right arm – his sleeve probably had been burned off… At least it had provided some sort of temporary protection. Several other horizontal burn wounds were scattered all over his weakened body. There were countless bruises across his arms and legs. She noted some smaller cut wounds near his wrists and on his hands, as if he had been unable to counter some shurikens properly. The kunoichi was convinced that he had been showered in those deadly throwing stars by his little brother. A ripped open left knee – Sasuke's katana of course.

But what shocked her the most were his bleeding, horribly damaged white eyes, devoid of coloured irises. Despite being the Fifth Hokage's self-proclaimed best apprentice, Sakura had never seen that pair before anywhere. They slightly resembled the byakugan in their current state, but she had witnessed those several times before, as she often hung out with her friend Hinata; the byakugan's pupils were transparent. The man in front of her had pupils, though. She retreated her hand carefully, allowing both long eyelashed eyelids to close again. The sudden movement prodded the tiny pools of blood to flow down his pale cheeks. Sakura was mystified. All of these weren't enough to kill an S-rank missing-nin who managed to slaughter his whole clan in just one night. The pink haired girl followed the trail of blood down his chin. That was when she noticed that blood was smeared all across it. Sakura raised one of her eyebrows curiously and slightly opened his mouth. It was filled with blood.

_Internal bleeding?_ she wondered. The medic easily formed the ox and tiger seals to summon the faint green glow around her hands – the mystical palm technique - and started to scan the missing nin's mouth, throat and eventually his lungs. She couldn't help it but gasp at the horrible knowledge once her brain processed it, _It's that lung disease, isn't it?_ Honestly, her thought was more of the observation of a fact than a question. She was completely sure of it. Itachi Uchiha had been infected by a deadly disease which hadn't been treated for years. This led to his death during his final battle against Sasuke.

_Sasuke has gotten his revenge… Although, not fully, as it wasn't really him who killed Itachi... Will he finally return to Konoha now?_ she hoped, but her intuition told her that this was impossible. He disappeared after the fight, while she was pretty sure that he felt her coming. He was avoiding her on purpose, she guessed. Although, this didn't surprise her. It only made her feel heartbroken. As much as she wanted it, she and Naruto both knew it that Sasuke wouldn't just walk back into Konoha and act as if nothing happened… Nothing would be the same ever again, even if he returned. Many wouldn't accept the ex-missing-nin as part of their community too. _He knows it that I'm a medic… Why is he avoiding me? I'm sure that he needs help after fighting Itachi…_ she thought, frowning. The ninja bit her cherry blossom coloured underlip. Sakura remembered Sasuke's words which he spoke during their previous meeting too well for her own good. They still haunted her. The chance that he would return was incredibly small. _There's nothing I can do for him anyway. He has vanished without any traces once again…_ She stared at the air in front of her absent minded and let out a downtrodden sigh.

She shook her head and directed her gaze to the corpse again. According to her memories, his disease was impossible to cure before Itachi massacred his clan. But recently, one of Tsunade-sama's close friends had discovered a way to treat it. Konoha had made great improvements on the medical field the last few years. But the treatment was only known by a select few and it needed extremely skilled medics to perform. Sakura herself had learned how to do it; it was her final 'test' before her teacher had officially called her her most talented apprentice – making Ino-pig very jealous. Ino had ignored her attempts to socialize for two weeks. After that, she demanded that Sakura would help her choose a new dress for her birthday party as a compensation.

The kunoichi was so distracted by checking the lung damage that it took her a long time to realize that she had forgotten to check one last thing. The disease was rare, and it amazed her so much to view its symptoms in real life that she forgot one of the basics. Sakura checked the fallen Akatsuki's pulse. Nothing, just like expected. She was about the retreat her hand when a tiny wave of blood flew through the Uchiha's veins. Sakura Haruno nearly jumped from disbelief, "What the-?"


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

Second chapter is up! I'll try to write longer chapters from now on. I'm working on a few non-FF stories too, as I've already told you in the first chapter... And I don't want my roleplaying buddies to wait for me for ages.

I'd like to thank Ylfrettub for reviewing the first chapter! I'd also like to thank the people who favourited or added this story to their alert list. I really appreciate it that you guys made it clear that you like this fanfic. :3

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The pink haired medic couldn't help it; she gasped. She retreated her hand as quickly as if she had burned it. Sakura nearly jumped up from the shock. _What the hell did just happen? _ she blinked, staring at the 'corpse' in front of her. _This can't be real!_

She shook her head and kept staring at the body of the Akatsuki member in disbelief, _My nerves must be driving me insane. I nearly met Sasuke after all… People hallucinate odd stuff when they're stressed about something after all._ She breathed in deeply and let out a big sigh in an attempt to soothe her nerves. _Heh, it seems like Sasuke still has a huge effect on me. Even after all those years…_ a bittersweet smile appeared on her face. She definitely cared about her former teammate, but not in her immature, fangirly way as a few years before. Sakura Haruno had finally matured.

The girl grinned unbelievingly and checked Itachi's pulse again, _It's unlike Sasuke to make mistakes. Especially when they concern his loathed brother…_ She waited for a few seconds again, convinced that it wouldn't happen again. She was right. Nothing. Sakura smirked contently, _Silly me. The Fifth Hokage's apprentice just messed up.. Big time! If I told this to anyone, then they'd-…!_

Then, the wave finally came.

Sakura stared at her hand blankly. She clearly felt it this time! _I wouldn't hallucinate the same thing twice!_ she bit her underlip. It took her three more long seconds to finally understand what her recently made discovery meant. "Itachi Uchiha is alive?" she exclaimed. Listening to her medical ninja instincts, she immediately bowed closer. At that distance, she felt a weak, irregular breeze blow against her porcelain skin, coming right from the missing nin's mouth. "He's breathing, too…" she muttered.

_Sasuke messed up after all,_ she chuckled for a second. _He might appear cool and cold blooded most of the time, but this probably must have awakened his emotions. He finally reached his goal after all those long years, or so he thought. Apparently, he can't handle emotions well… He took Itachi's immediate death for granted after he fainted, I think._

Akatsuki or not, her crush's arch enemy or not, it was Sakura's duty to heal injured ninjas. In case of missing-nins, it was healing them until they would make it to Konoha's prison to be interrogated. The kunoichi bit the side of her tongue in annoyance, sending a glare at the murderer in front of her. If there was a way, then she would have called Sasuke back to finish the damn killing machine off properly. But Sasuke was probably far away already as his chakra signature had dissolved into thin air. She couldn't help considering doing it herself… Sakura's right hand slid down to her kunai pouch. She automatically opened it and grabbed a kunai. The medic nin ran her middle finger over the cold steel weapon's upper edge as she pondered what to do, _Nobody would ever get to know that it was me… It's unlikely that he would wake up without my help, but what if one of his Akatsuki comrades found him in time? 'Aloe Vera' and Tobi are here. Doing this would save Sasuke lots of misery…_

Sasuke. As she thought of the name, a crazy idea suddenly entered her mind. It came to her like a lightning scarring the bright blue sky during broad daylight. It was so weird… But despite the plan's insanity, it actually looked like a reasonable, if not outright fantastic idea. The idea was completely fail proof. She was sure of it. Sakura slowly put her kunai back into the pouch strapped to her leg while grinning, _I can't possibly miss this opportunity! Once I get back, I'll immediately share it with Tsunade-shishou!_

The kunoichi started working. It would be a hard task to save the Uchiha even for her, but it was completely worth her chakra. This was probably the riskiest part of her plan. If she managed to keep him alive though, then she would be definitely victorious in the end.

She wrapped one of her arms around his back – his body felt cold and stiff, similar to that of a corpse -, lifted the man up into a sitting pose – he was lighter than expected - and helped him lean forward. The unconscious Itachi immediately started coughing up blood, which was exactly what the medic nin wanted. Sakura patted him on the back surprisingly gently, "Don't die on me..." After he coughed up nearly all of the blood from inside his lungs, throat and mouth, Sakura started healing his lungs to prevent more blood from flowing in. She didn't want her patient to choke after all.

Sakura worked as quickly as possible. She didn't know when Itachi's parter might have showed up – she knew it that the Akatsuki members worked in pairs. Having seen Sasori's partner, Deidara, proved that. She shrugged at the memory, _Poor grandma Chiyo. I wouldn't have made it without her… _That was exactly why she didn't want to attempt battling an Akatsuki on her own. _His eyes and other injuries can wait. I need to get out of here,_ she decided.

She checked Itachi's lungs one last time. She had successfully stopped his internal bleeding at least. He wouldn't die until his disease opened the wounds up again. The cells inside his lungs were severely weakened because their cores contained the disease, so healing them over and over again wouldn't be of any use. In fact, they would only be weakened furthermore if she healed them several times. That was the special feature of the disease which made it so hard to cure and extremely dangerous. It became stronger each time it came into direct contact with strong chakra and thusly spred out, weakening more and more cells. _I'll cure his disease when I get to the hospital… It's going to take a long while._

She nodded, acknowledging the Uchiha's status. He could travel with her now. _Using the teleportation scroll won't tear open his scars. I think that they will stay closed, despise being practically bathed in chakra. The whole travel will only last a few seconds._ That was the only reason why she bothered to heal him right on the spot. It was risky with other Akatsuki ninjas around. _Those idiots thought that they could prevent us from getting to Sasuke. Now, it's us keeping them distracted from retrieving Itachi… The tables have turned, haven't they?_

The medic nin opened her kunai pouch again and pulled a scroll out this time. It contained something like a reversed summoning jutsu. Instead of summoning any kind of familiar, the scroll took her to Konoha's hospital, as that was the designated point. Most medic nins did not carry these scroll as they could be stolen and copied by enemy ninjas and could help them to infiltrate Konoha easily. Sakura had only gotten one to be able to carry Sasuke back in case he was injured. It had been a likely possibility that he would refuse to return and that Naruto and the others would have to knock some sense into him to change his mind. Or simply render him unconscious of course, in case a fight wasn't enough to ease his stubbornness.

Sakura Haruno bit into her thumb and pushed it against the centre of the circle on the scroll, drenching it with her blood. The circle seemed to become larger and larger. She grabbed the right arm of the unconscious missing nin tightly and allowed herself to be sucked into the hole. She relied on her shadow clone to notify the others about what happened once the Akatsuki threat was over. Sakura didn't feel the need to assist her comrades in the fight. She knew it that both Akatsuki members would disappear once they finally noticed that Sasuke's chakra had faded away completely and that further fighting would be useless.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I wish that I could come up with something equally awesome, though.

3 people have reviewed this story until now! I want to thank CeriseSkies, KThxBai and ylfrettub once again. Really, guys, thanks a lot for the sweet reviews. It really cheers me up and motivates me to write more and try extra hard. I want to thank the people who added 'A Different Take' to their story alert lists too. :3 It's good to know to have some readers.

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The pink haired medic nin and the unconscious Uchiha successfully made it into Konoha's big hospital. The two of them arrived in a dimly lit, small room which was completely stuffed by many huge machines and other serious equipment which had taken ages for Sakura to master. What separated their destination from the normal hospital rooms was that it was located in the hospital's underground basement and that it was basically a modified prison room. Instead of a normal wall, a special, thick, unbreakable glass sealed it away from the hallway – there was a whole row of ten similar rooms underground, but only this one was being used at the moment. Strong, thick steel bars run through the glass to keep it extremely secured and even harder to break. Said steel bars had chakra detectors running through them – if anyone attempted to use a non-medical jutsu, then they would go off. Healing and destructive chakra felt different after all. The latter emitted a stingy vibe and was dominant, while the latter was gentle, stroking and passive. The door had several locks on it and even had a chakra signature recognizing machine built in, so that only a select few would be able to enter; the Hokage, Shizune and Sakura. After Itachi would be nursed back to health, he would be moved to the real prison to be interrogated by Ibiki Morino. While this room was set up for Sasuke in case he got injured, it would suit Itachi too.

Sakura directed some of her chakra into her pale arms – she spent most of her time inside the hospital and rarely had time to relax, let's not even mention lying down in the sun - and dragged Itachi on the surgery bed. Her priority was checking on his lungs again, to make sure that they hadn't opened up during their short travel. Notifying Tsunade and Shizune would come later. His state was slightly worse than expected – some of the wounds inside his lungs had opened up again; that was the unnerving result she got after allowing the green aura around her hands to disappear.

She tugged his black mesh shirt off and successfully managed to neglect the fact that the Akatsuki was well-built, despite suffering from a deadly disease for years. She had a hard time imagining how he was able to train or... Wow, even fight while feeling pain constantly. Right now, she was Sakura Haruno the medic nin and she had to concentrate on her task fully, without getting silly ideas and noticing her patient's similarities to Sasuke – but damn, they looked so much alike! Itachi looked exactly like Sasuke, but slightly older and with longer hair. _At least his head doesn't look like a cockatoo's butt,_ Sakura grinned, being reminded of one of Naruto's attempts to insult Sasuke from a long time ago. She shook her head in annoyance. _Ah, dammit, pay attention,_ _idiot_! she yelled at herself.

The pink haired kunoichi quickly formed the ox and tiger seals again and started closing the wounds inside his lungs. She was finished with that in one minute – Sakura was extremely skilled and could heal anyone even if she was awoken from her sleep that second. Practice makes perfect. She knew it that she couldn't waste any time though. The more often she healed him, the harder curing her patient would get…

Sakura attached some heartbeat censors to him. They immediately started bleeping; just like she expected, his heartbeat was extremely low but stable. His heart had been weakened by the lack of oxygen as his lungs malfunctioned. She put an oxygen mask on his face and healed his heart. After just five minutes, his heart was as good as new. Another minute after that, his heartbeat had gotten slightly faster but remained stable. Sakura nodded in approval. She knew it that the hard part was about to come – now that his heartbeat increased, his lungs would be put under more pressure and could tear open again after a while.

That was the moment when Shizune knocked on the glass door - she had heard the bleeping sound. She hadn't seen Itachi's face yet as Sakura's back partially hid him from Shizune's view.

Shizune cheered triumphantly and raised her right fist towards the sky, "You did it! You brought him back!"

Sakura wanted to shake her head and stutter a weak 'no', but Shizune was faster. She darted into the room to finally see Sasuke. She walked up to the surgery bed and was about to smile when she noticed that the person on the bed wasn't Sasuke. "Did he change his hairstyle or something? This… Isn't-…" she started, but Sakura interrupted her.

"That's what I was about to say. This man isn't our Sasuke-kun. He's his elder brother."

"Eh?" Shizune failed to hide her shock and disappointment; her jaw dropped. "This man is… Itachi Uchiha?"

Sakura nodded and sighed deeply, "Hai, Shizune-senpai. Sasuke-kun and Uchiha-san had a fight… Sasuke-kun got away by the time I arrived. Instead of him, I found his elder brother on the verge of death."

Shizune nodded slowly and then turned around to exit the room. "I'll go and notify Tsunade-sama. You will need her help to heal… Uchiha-san, right?"

The pink haired kunoichi nodded again, "I'm convinced that her presence would be useful. The teleportation jutsu used up quite a lot of my chakra. Shizune-senpai, please don't tell anyone else and act as if nothing happened. This could cause an uproar and some shinobi might attempt to kill him before we can interrogate him."

Shizune walked away and sped up her steps. _This is going to be a long day,_ she thought.

Meanwhile, Sakura inspected the Akatsuki member again. His normal wounds would have to be disinfected soon, but that could wait as they weren't deadly. His eyes were still bleeding… She didn't need to be a genius to figure it out that they probably hurt like hell. She decided to heal a few smaller and less important things first – she wanted to wait for Tsunade's help; the two of them would cure his lethal lung disease together, as she couldn't possibly finish that with only her own chakra. The medic nin put on a pair of transparent, tightly fitting plastic gloves after having washed her hands with soap.

That's why she gave Itachi a strong painkiller in the form of a light green pill. He actually had trouble with swallowing - his throat was swollen from having coughed up so much blood. Sakura attached one of those bags filled with infusion to him by sticking a needle into his wrist and binding it there with a bandage – having lost so much blood probably meant that he could use some water, minerals and vitamins. Sakura nodded in approval once again. Then, she sterilized his chest with a cloth drenched in alcohol – the medical procedure they were about to begin required the area covering the lungs to be clean and devoid of bacteria and viruses. While she was at it, she cleaned all of his wounds too and healed those that were nearby.

She stopped the bleeding of his eyes too, biting her lips to be able to ignore her need to shrug and feel sorry for the missing nin, which would have been insane, given his identity. He slaughtered his clan and ruined his little brother's life. Sakura couldn't possibly feel compassion for a monster like him. But she had never seen eyes damaged that badly before… The 'white' of his eyes had a reddish tint and they were bloodshot all over, not even mentioning the damage which had been done to the inside of the eyes, which was several times worse. _So this is what happens when one overuses the sharingan… Ugh… He has been blinded. I could try whatever I wanted to, but I'm unable to save his eyes._

Then, she began the real preparation of the surgery. She grabbed a tiny, unused plastic box from a drawer and poured some kind of special, white liquid into it which no common mortal knew the name of, nor the effects of it. She switched the in-built microscope of a big desk on and put the plastic box next to it. She also took a few x-ray pictures which she printed out and put observed carefully. Most of his lungs were horribly infected – she actually had a hard time finding a place where the disease hadn't wreaked havoc. A worried expression appeared on her face; if she couldn't find an unharmed air sac, then the missing nin would be done for and her plan would fail for sure. Eventually, she spotted a tiny area with a magnifying glass in the lower left side of his lung. Sakura sighed in relief. She left the x-ray machine on so that she could see what she was doing while she bowed over the man. She picked a small surgical knife up and successfully cut a small but deep hole in him at the desired place. She formed a long row of hand seals while concentrating fully. Two thin strings of chakra emerged from her thumb and middle finger. Her chakra pincet disappeared into the wound while Sakura observed what she was doing on the screen carefully. She suddenly shaped her chakra to grow a tiny but sharp edge and cut the air sac off.

She stood up and put the air sac under the microscope on a tiny glass plate with a drop of destillated water on it. She let out yet another sigh of relief while she walked back to Itachi and healed the wound she made. Sakura sat down on her chair and zoomed in with the microscope. She had been right – the air sac was not infected. That meant that she could proceed. The air sac was made of several tiny cells which she all needed in order to be able to cure the Uchiha as quickly as possible. Sakura couldn't allow any of them to go wasted. She formed several half hand seals with her other hand and her chakra pincet turned into something resembling a flying drop of chakra, resembling gravity defying water. She closed her eyes in order to be able to concentrate even better. She directed the chakra drop to cover the air sac and distracted the cores of the cells, which floated around somewhere in the flying mass of chakra. Ten minutes later, when she was finished, she put the chakra drop into the plastic box with the white liquid in it and let out another deep sigh. The kunoichi hadn't done this for a while, so it put lots of strain on her…

That's when the Fifth Hokage herself stormed in and yelled at her, "Itachi Uchiha is here, Sakura-san?" Her teacher was clearly incredibly exited as her eyes seemed to shine.

"Hai, shishou," Sakura replied. Then, she explained what she had done until now and updated her about the Uchiha's current and previous statuses. After that, she pointed towards the box, "I'm waiting for the cell cores to multiply."

During her speech, the blonde woman smiled in approval, "You didn't forget my lessons, so it seems. Well done. We need several millions of those, so I'll work on healing the Uchiha's other wounds which you haven't cured yet. Sit down and rest a bit; you look exhausted. But you definitely did the right thing."

Sakura sent her a thankful glance and sat down in the plastic chair which stood behind the desk again. She valued Tsunade's compliments a lot and it always gave her a warm, fuzzy feeling when she said something positive like that to her. To be honest, Sakura loved to be praised, as it felt really nice to be treated differently from the good for nothing fangirl with a large forehead.

Shizune appeared eight minutes later while gasping for air – Tsunade had run to the basement from her bureau in the hokage's building, scattering all of her oh so hated paperwork, leaving Shizune with the annoying task to organize them into neat little piles again. That duty took Shizune quite a while, because she was a perfectionist and she even nitpicked herself... _And I told her to not to act as if anything big happened… She overdid it to get away from the paperwork, didn't she?_ Shizune frowned and sat down next to Sakura. The dark brown haired woman watched the Fifth work.

Tsunade sat down too once she had healed Itachi's minor injuries. First, she looked at Sakura curiously, but then it turned into an investigative, piercing stare, "But Sakura, why did you save him? Please don't take it as an insult, I know it that you're loyal to Konoha, but… Sasuke-kun despises this criminal. Why didn't you kill him?"

Sakura's eyes jumped wide open, _How did she know that that thought crossed my mind? Eh, Tsunade-shishou knows me too well for my own good…_ She let out a deep sigh and decided that it was time to share her reasoning, "Sasuke-kun got away… Again… And…" She quickly averted her gaze towards the floor to hide her tears. The pink haired girl was incredibly disappointed. She had been so close… _Snap out of it, idiot, you're in the middle of an explanation!_ she reminded herself. "I came up with a way to make Uchiha-san useful. Do you know how Sasuke-kun is always chasing him to carry out his revenge? Well… Uchiha-san would make the best bait in existence. If we have him around, then Sasuke will show up to kill him, eventually. That saves us lots of trouble…"

Tsunade blinked. She hadn't thought of anything like that yet. Then, she grinned and patted Sakura on the shoulder, "That's it! That idea is great!"

"And there is a chance that Morino-san will be able to gain some valuable information about Akatsuki out of him… We could swat two flies at once!" Shizune continued, smiling too. Sakura had developed some brains during her apprenticeship. Shizune felt proud to see her grow up.

"We need to celebrate!" Tsunade yelled happily. "Shizune, get us some sake!"

"Uh… Uh…" Shizune began, flailing her arms around, being shocked by Tsunade's happiness outburst. "Sakura's not allowed to drink... She's not 18 yet... And we're in the middle of a very important surgery, Tsunade-sama. If we mess up, then Sakura's devious plan will be all in vain."

"Aw. Right. I was about to say that anyway," Tsunade mumbled, put her elbow on the desk and supported her chin on it. "Let's wait."


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto. But once I take over the world, I will! Muwahahhahahahhaha! Ahum, please excuse me.

Wow guys and girls. I haven't expected this story to get so popular. It amazes me that you guys have favourited this fanfic… Thank you sooo much! Reviews are always welcome!

Why did it take so long to update? It's not that hard to write a damn fanfic chapter! You're so dumb, taking this long to write this piece of (PIZZA)! I'm going to kill you for making me wait!

Sasori-san, is that you? Maybe not. Anyway… Please have mercy! I'm currently undergoing a (not-as-harsh-as-Sakura's) training called 'exams' – not the Chuunin ones. They're hard. Please re-kill the one who came up with the concept of exams instead… V for vendetta! E for exa-… EXTERMINATION.

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The Fifth Hokage let out yet another grumpy sigh out of the countless ones with her sharp gaze fixated on the floor, making the worried Shizune's attempts to evade Tsunade's provoked anger easier. Maybe she should have gotten Tsunade sake after all… A tiny sip wouldn't have hurt any of them. But knowing Tsunade's definition of 'tiny sip', she shrugged and nearly shook her head. _She's not an alcoholic, but she acts like a toddler whose candy has been taken away when she can't have sake…_ the dark brown haired medic nin thought, looking at Sakura instead. _Hopefully Sakura won't turn out like her when it comes to temper…_

Although, the differences between the two of them disappeared a tad more each year they spent together. Shizune could state the obvious without having to think about it twice just to make sure, the thought came to her completely naturally; Sakura was a younger version of Tsunade. The two of them shared many similarities, both in skills and personality. Even a similar past, actually… Sasuke resembled Orochimaru and had been his disciple before he killed the creepy snake obsessed sannin. He had been the first one to rise above his teacher. Naruto was training under Jiraiya's supervision and Sakura was Tsunade's best apprentice. _History repeats itself, doesn't it?_ a smile crept over Shizune's lips.

The wait had been boring. Tsunade felt tempted to show her - currently hidden - cards and offer to play poker with the two kunoichis in the meantime. She always carried those around to play against herself when she had to do paperwork, but she got bored with that quickly, as playing poker against oneself was kind of against the original point of the game itself. You weren't supposed to know your opponent's cards… It took away the suspense and made her want to make a neat little pile of her annoying paperwork and take a beauty nap after drinking some nice, warm sake… And then randomly wake up three hours later, scream from the shock once having noticed the time and start stamping her hokage seal all over the place to avoid being scolded by a very angry Shizune who'd get her revenge by hiding her precious sake bottles in crazy places, like in under the copy machine where Tsunade would never look anyway as she was a slacker and stayed away from work for as long as possible. How cruel…

They waited for three hours straight while checking on Itachi every five minutes to make sure that his status didn't worsen. The wounds inside his lungs had opened up thrice, so they had to heal him a few times. Otherwise, nothing worth mentioning happened…

Sakura stood up to peek into the plastic box through its thin, transparent lid. The pinkette stared at it for a short while and then turned towards her two teachers - Shizune had assisted to her training too -, "The cells have split often enough. I think that we can begin the procedure."

The hokage got up from her chair and inspected the box as well, being glad that the annoying wait was finally over, "You're right. Let's get started, then!"

All three of them started working – it was going to take a very long while too, but it wouldn't be boring at all... Plus Sakura's chakra wouldn't be enough… They needed a huge quantity of chakra. Together, it was less risky, too. They could keep an eye on their current teammates' work to make sure that they didn't mess up. They would be able to correct each other before it was too late in case the worst scenario happened.

The trio summoned their own floating chakra blobs and bowed over the missing nin. They directed the liquid to hover over his chest.

"Good luck," Sakura sent her colleagues encouraging smiles, her full, cherry blossom coloured lips curling upwards.

Tsunade grinned in response, "The one who messes up has to buy me two bottles of sake!"

Shizune was about to nod back towards Sakura politely when she heard the hokage's words. She rolled her eyes, "Agreed… But if you mess up, then you buy all of Tonton's food for a whole week."

Sakura stared at her two teachers blankly and sighed. She'd just tag along with the joke… The youngest kunoichi didn't feel like being the combo breaker. Even those two could be immature once in a while… "I want to be taught an awesome new jutsu," she added the priority of her wishlist to the conversation.

Tsunade sent the two miniature glares, "I'm the Fifth Hokage! I don't make mistakes! But whatever. I accept your challenge! Deal!"

That's when the three of them finally started working after their pointless but somehow motivational blabbering. They extracted the infected cores of the cells and replaced them by the healthy ones. Once all of them had been switched, they had to look their work over to make sure that they hadn't missed anything infected. Only after that could their heal him properly. This surgery took four hours long for the three… No, eventually, two of them.

Sakura felt her eyelids close once in a while. She couldn't help it – a feeling a sleepiness mixed with weariness overcame her. The pink haired medic nin struggled to stay awake. She kept it up for fifteen minutes, but her teachers had already noticed. That was as long as they were able to put up with her sudden incompetence.

"Sakura, you barely have any chakra left. You've already done a lot before we started the main part. You successfully readied the preparations; you should be content with that. Shizune and I both know that you've done this once before and excelled, so we won't look down on you if you quit now. You should rest and let your chakra recover. At this rate, you're going to faint due to chakra deprivedness," Tsunade spoke.

Sakura gasped in protest, "But this is my work…!"

"Yes, and you'll mess it up really badly if you continue to work on it without a clear mind, stupid. Then it will be all in vain. If only one infected cell core is skimmed over, then…" the blonde haired D-cup warned her.

She didn't even have to finish her sentence; Sakura bowed her head down in defeat and retreated from the surgical chair. "Okay… I'll see you tomorrow morning, then…" she mumbled and dragged herself towards the door, where she collapsed all of sudden while trying to open it. She fell on the cold floor and curled up on her side.

"Well, it's better than collapsing during work at least," Tsunade sighed. "Sakura still has things to learn. Keeping an eye on her own chakra level is one of them…" she chuckled.

Shizune couldn't help it but laugh along, "Silly Sakura-chan… She has a fantastic chakra control, but to overlook the basics like that? Far from perfect."

Suddenly, a serious expression appeared on the Fifth's face. "You know, Shizune, I think that she's aiming for the sky, if you get what I mean. She doesn't want to be left behind by Sasuke-kun and Naruto-kun. Sakura-san decided to change, remember? She doesn't want to watch from the sidelines anymore. But she has to understand it that she has to keep her two feet on the ground and keep her head out of the clouds. Perfectionism can destroy lives," she spoke, watching the pink pile.

Shizune nodded in agreement, "Tsunade-sama, I'm going to get Sakura a bed. Can you continue the surgery alone?"

The strong kunoichi resumed her work without a word. Shizune took that as a yes. She directed some chakra into her arms and picked Sakura up, _She sure has gotten heavier since I first met her. Actually, she has grown a lot._ This wasn't the first time that she carried Sakura's unconscious body around – Tsunade's training was a harsh one, possibly one of the hardest ones of the Hidden Leaf. Training under a sannin certainly took its toll… She carried the pinkette to the next prison room and put her in the wooden bed and covered her by its red striped brown blanket. Shizune didn't close the door, obviously. "Night-night, Sakura-chan," she said, smiling warmly.

Shizune hurried back to Itachi Uchiha's room and started working again. They would be finished soon if no unexpected complications came up.


	5. Intermezzo

**Disclaimer:** Naruto doesn't belong to me.

Exams are almost over! I have only one left, but that's Geography. (That doesn't count. It's too easy.) Translation: I finally have time to write again! Yes, freedom, after 8 days full of exams! Hell yeah!

Err, scratch that. My roleplaying buddies and my boyfriend (we plan to co-write something but I still haven't written the intros of my two characters) are about to kidnap me because I neglected them for a whole week. I'm such a horrible person, I know… D: Anyway, I'll try to update this chapter more frequently when I manage to get out of the handcuffs. Eh, I'm not Houdini… On the bright side, summer break (read: writing season) is about to start, so I'll make up for being slow/lazy soon. Okay?

(But then there's FIFA sidetracking me too. Yes, I'm a girl who likes to watch football… The horror. Go Netherlands!)

I need to shut up. Nobody gives a damn about my lame excuses anyway. Besides, I love writing this, so I won't abandon it if that's what you are worried about. :3

Yes, this might contain spoilers about Tobi's identity. I try to go along with the manga's plotline. If you don't know who he is… Don't read this. Augh, it hurts to say this… I love it when people read my work. Especially when they like it, of course.

Your reviews, alerts and favorites are appreciated as always! R&R this chapter too please. The cookie jar is still full. It feels lonely and unloved. Poor thing.

xXFoxy Scorpion BlossomXx was curious about what 'Tobi' is up to… I've been planning to write a post concerning the Naruto and Tobi group previously anyway, so here we go. I've guessed that this is a nice moment to stick that chapter in as Tsunade, Shizune and Sakura are stuck playing the waiting game.

* * *

-Intermezzo-

Once the fight between the raging 'Aloe Vera' and the ramen addict broke out, the orange masked man decided to stay a bit longer and keep his act up, just to make sure to lead his enemies to the fake trail. He wouldn't make Konoha's job any easier. Not even a tiny bit! Not until he finally claimed his spot as the Sixth Hokage, anyway. Then, he'd make sure that everyone accepted him. Either by doing them insignificant favors, bribing them or by force. Come to think of it; he'd probably do the latter, not that it mattered. The village became puny without him. There would be little resistance once he carried his plan out. They were likely to surrender. They would give up without trying, having inherited the will of fire or not.

He had already awaited that title for so long… So many long years. But the wait would finally end soon. It was only a matter of time before he would finally get his well deserved prize. The Akatsuki member was a very patient person, but now that his plan was so close to succeeding, he was starting to get slightly impatient. The man just couldn't wait. As Tobi would say: 'I feel like a kid who can't wait to get that promised candy!' Although, Tobi himself loved candy too. Madara preferred spicy food. The Uchiha was sure of it that he gained some weight since he 'became' Tobi. _If I see more dangos, then I'm going to throw up._

He didn't doubt it that Zetsu could handle the Sasuke-retrieval team, but he didn't feel like losing another Akatsuki member by accident. Zetsu was meant to be a spy, not a ninja to be sent on assassination missions. His natural affinity dictated otherwise. He was also very valuable – a fantastic source of information which Madara would have severe trouble with to reach otherwise.

Sasori, Hidan, Kakuzu and Deidara had already been killed by those pesky leaf ninjas after all. They were all strong. 'Tobi' hadn't expected their deaths to occur. _Rest in peace, Deidara-senpai! You went out with a bang! _ he thought, grinning a tiny bit under his mask. Quite unfortunate – their absences meant that some major holes appeared in the security of the Akatsuki organization and that the remaining missions became harder without their help. But it wasn't fatal for the organization. Just a simple annoyance – similar to what someone feels like when their back itches but they can't reach that spot. _Where on Earth am I going to find decent replacements?_ he pondered, while dodging a few kunai and squealing in shock. His Tobi act came to him naturally after having practiced it for ages.

To be honest, he wasn't even bothering to really concentrate on the fight. With his current abilities, he didn't need to. The knowledge entered his mind automatically. And this overconfident attitude caused his downfall – something skipped his attention after all.

_Sasuke's and Itachi's chakras are minimal. They aren't even moving… I wonder who will win? If Saskuke wins, then I could convince him to take Itachi's spot. His teammates could replace Sasori and the others…_ he mused, while absently countering a few kicks aimed at him. He made sure to flail pathetically while he was at it. The differences between Tobi and the real him were so huge that he was actually entertained by playing Tobi. _If I weren't born into a ninja clan, then I would have become an actor,_ he thought, amused by the idea.

And that's when the overconfident Uchiha had to wake up from his daydreaming – Itachi's chakra disappeared completely. Usually, the chakra of dead people lingered around for a while but slowly started to vanish. Itachi's, on the other hand, faded out of existence, similarly to himself when he used his space distorting traveling jutsu. Madara Uchiha had never seen that trait appear somewhere else before, despite his extensive lifespan. He focused on the spot where Itachi had disappeared from in the distance while twisting his current attacker's arm around and kicking him in the stomach. He faked nearly losing his own balance, nearly causing Kakashi to facepalm.

_Why do they allow half-assed idiots into an organization full of S-rank criminals?_ he wondered. The white haired team leader would have definitely facepalmed if a glimpse of red in the dark hole of the orange, spiral patterned mask wouldn't have caught his own sharingan eye. _Is that a…?_

Yes, Itachi was really gone. That's what Madara noted for sure. He could still sense Sasuke's lazily masked chakra though. He was lying a bit further away from the spot where Itachi's body had been.

"Zetsu-san!" 'Tobi' called out. "I think that we should help Itachi-san! His chakra just vanished! Leader-sama won't be happy!"

A slightly bruised Zetsu elbowed Naruto in the stomach and kicked against one of his kage bunshin clones, making it disappear in a cloud of smoke, accompanied by a loud 'poof'. "Say what? Let's get going… We'll finish this later, Carrot." Zetsu had officially decided to come up with an equally unfitting and embarrassing name of the Kyuubi's jinchuuriki.

That's how the two of them left the leaf ninjas abruptly and appeared where the fight had taken place, both by their own means. Tobi literally transformed back into Madara again. Zetsu already knew his true identity anyway.

"The elder brother is gone. I focused on this place the entire time. Then, he suddenly vanished. It's your fault, for making such a drama out of being called 'Aloe Vera'."

Zetsu was even more mystified than his leader. If Madara Uchiha, out of all people, didn't know what happened, then why, no, how should he know? He rubbed his black cheek which had already puffed up from a hard punch. His black side nearly snapped at the real leader for daring to mention his brand new nickname, but his white side somehow managed to keep him in control, realizing that he could be in big trouble for allowing Itachi's corpse to vanish without a trace. Although, it hadn't been part of his mission. The description only said 'delay the Sasuke-retrieval team'. Nothing about protecting corpses… He couldn't be blamed, so he wouldn't be punished. Madara wouldn't do anything insensible. "I don't know, Uchiha-sama," he replied, looking around, trying to figure out what happened. "Although…"

The venus flytrap man was interrupted. Madara had noticed slightly before him. He had been too far away, that's why he didn't sense this new chakra back then. A third, weak chakra was present at the scene. Its remains had been completely suppressed by the leftovers of the offensive chakras. It didn't take him longer than a few seconds to recognize who it belonged to – after all, he had just fought against her. _That clears it up. _"That girl managed to send a clone and mask her chakra signature completely. She was fooled by Sasuke's own chakra masking jutsu, though. Very ironic. Sasuke's behind that boulder over there," he pointed towards a half-crumbled wall. "So she got Itachi-san instead." The first part of his speech only included stating facts. His last sentence was something which he still needed to decipher fully, though. Why would she take the missing nin? He'd have time to think about that later. A few minutes and the leaf ninjas would catch up to them.

"Let's get going, Zetsu-san," Madara said, walking behind the wall and picking up Sasuke's unconscious body. "I'm taking Sasuke-kun. We need to talk. You should get his friends. Hebi or Taka or whatever they call themselves now… They're here. Oh, and you should inform Kisame-san that his partner has been… Heh, 'kidnapped'."

Zetsu nodded and vanished into the ground, while his black side decided to have Uchiha steak for dinner. The plant man disliked being ordered around in general.

Said Uchiha used his space distortion jutsu instead. They made it into the Akatsuki hideout before Naruto and his friends could arrive on the battlefield.

* * *

"That hurt!" Naruto complained, leaning against a very exhausted looking Kiba. "Sakura-chan, we could use some healing."

Akamaru whined sadly as he dragged one of his broken legs behind him, trying to not to fall behind.

Kiba reached down to pat the huge dog's head comfortingly, "You did well as always, buddy!"

Akamaru wagged his tail happily and attempted to walk faster but nearly fell over, losing his balance.

Kiba laughed and prodded the silly dog's shoulder.

Sakura had been awkwardly silent for a while. Naruto guessed that it was because she was sad… They had messed up after all. The failed to recover Sasuke once again. He had fumed when they appeared on the empty field… Sakura just had a different way of accepting their loss.

"Huh, what?" she asked, looking up from the forest ground. "Oh, of course…" she went to Naruto and started healing his wounds while walking alongside him. They weren't dangerous, but definitely painful. 'Aloe Vera' had a nice aim. She wondered why the Akatsuki hadn't tried to capture Naruto. They had a nice opportunity to do so, hadn't they? He was the jinchuuriki of the Nine Tailed Fox after all. Just like Gaara, the Kazekage and ex-host of the Shukaku. She healed everyone while they walked into Konoha's direction. It would take a few days to get back to their home village. After a while, she managed to heal everyone. Even later, when she was sure of it that Tobi and Zetsu were gone for sure - Kakashi wouldn't have mentioned having noticed his sharingan if he knew that he's around -, she decided to finally tell her comrades the truth.

"We couldn't retrieve Sasuke-kun…" she began, with a disappointed look on her face. After noticing the anxious expressions of her friends, she smiled encouragingly all of sudden. She didn't want to make them sink back into depression again. "But I have good news too! While you… Err, we, were busy fighting those two Akatsuki members, I found someone. Sasuke was gone by the time I arrived. So I teleported back to Konoha with him… Guess who he is?"

Yamato blinked, "Don't tell me…?"

"Hai, sensei. I managed to capture Itachi Uchiha," the Sakura clone said, grinning contently. The others stared at her in disbelief until she started explaining her plan.


End file.
